Pet Talk: The wily coyote can be a terror to your pets

Wednesday

Jun 20, 2007 at 12:01 AMJun 20, 2007 at 8:16 PM

Pet columnist Rene Knapp on coyotes and small pets.

Rene Knapp

The coyote is an adaptable and tenacious survivor.

Because coyotes are so adaptable, their habits and habitats have become geographical. Coyotes that live in the desert are active at twilight and dawn, when temperatures are cooler. In other parts of the country, they may forage during daylight hours and during winter, when food is scarce, they will hunt day and night (including in our back yards), and in the summer, they will generally hunt at night and sleep during the warmest hours.

They eat whatever they find during a particular season. They will feed on mice, squirrels, woodchucks, rabbits, fawns, amphibians, insects and fruit. In populated areas, they will go through your garbage cans and prey on your small pets. Farmers even have lost sheep, calves and poultry to this wily mammal.

Feeding stations for birds and squirrels can be a magnet for the coyote and is discouraged in rural areas. Coyotes are among the most successful mammals in the world.

Coyotes are not the loners people tend to think they are. The Eastern coyote is a very social animal. They will select a mate for life, and both parents will care for their young, and even older offspring will help raise the pups. With four to eight pups born at any given time, and remaining with their parents for up to a year, coyotes can form quite a pack. They will hunt in family groups, which is one reason they prove so dangerous to domestic animals. Our house pets are no match for these versatile creatures.

Coyotes are very vocal. They yip, howl and bark depending on what message they are trying to get across. Sometimes the coyote will resemble a German shepherd -- until you notice the yellow eyes, low-hanging tail and black lines on the legs. Eastern coyotes weigh between 35 pounds and 55 pounds. The average life span of a coyote who is able to avoid the guns or poisons of human is about four years.

Infant mortality for coyote pups is high. Distemper takes its toll, as do human predators. Roundworms that go untreated become infestations and also kill pups. The young can even be killed by older pairs of coyotes if they happen into the wrong neighborhood. There is also a strain of rabies specific to canids that has devastated coyotes in Texas.

We fear coyotes because they threaten us and kill our pets. I myself have lost several semi-feral cats to coyotes, and I always shudder when I hear the yip of a pack of pups in my fields. I try hard to protect my ferals, but they will not always go into the garage at night. There are also outside cats who have no fear of dogs, and by the time they realize what is happening to them when a coyote shows up, it is too late. Coyotes are fast and smart; our cats and dogs are no match for a creature of the wild. We have taken all of their living spaces, which has forced them to come into ours. I don’t want to lose my animals, but coyotes are here to stay, and they do control the rat and mice population. They are curious and playful and threatening. It is imperative the coyote is controlled when necessary to our safety.